LitShop brings hands-on building and making workshops to girls and gender non-conforming youth ages 10-17 in St Louis City. We pair hands-on work like carpentry, woodworking, or printmaking, with engaging literacy opportunities, like writing workshops, book clubs, or podcasting. Our girls use real tools and real materials to build the world they want to see and tell the stories they want to tell. In 2023, we moved to our first brick-and-mortar location in Botanical Heights, where we are now increasing the scale and scope of the work we do with St Louis youth. In 2024 has been our biggest year yet and we've got over 100 youth accepted into our summer workshops. Donations from Give STL Day will help support these summer workshops, keeping them free so ALL girls can participate.
Over the past five years, LitShop's free school-based and community-based programs have reached over 300 St Louis youth. LitShop is diverse-by-design; we seek to remove barriers to access so all girls in St Louis are able to participate in our workshops. We are driven by the genius that resides in all our girls; LitShop creates safe, supportive environments where that genius can come to life as girls construct their own learning.